Monthly Archives: July 2016

Flying in the Harpoon

I had a really fun experience recently. I was given the chance to head down to a fly-in in one of the participating aircraft. The aircraft was a Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon. Beautifully restored, this aircraft was piloted by Taigh Raimey. Taigh works with a variety of aircraft including a lot of Beech 18s but the Harpoon is a great aircraft to fly in. Inside it is extensively restored so a lot of the original equipment is included. Consequently, it is a little cramped in there and you have to be careful as you move through the airframe.

There are two places inside that are worth spending some time. In the middle of the fuselage is an astrodome. This is certainly a great place to watch what is going on. You can look freely in any direction. I was up there when we arrived at Eagle Field and got a good view of our flyby. However, my favorite spot was the rear of the fuselage. It is extensively glazed and you can lie on your stomach and watch the world pass behind and below you. That will get a post of its own.

Eagle Falls

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The great thing about snow covered mountains (well, one them) is that all of that snow has to go somewhere when the temperature warms up. The melt waters result in powerful river flows and, since we are talking about mountainous areas, there are chances for big waterfalls. On the southwest side of Lake Tahoe is Emerald Bay and above the bay are Eagle Falls. These are some pretty substantial falls when the water is running off and we got them at a great time of year.

The top of the falls is up near the highway. They crash down the hillside and run in to the lake near Vikingsholme. Since we hiked down to the lakeside at this place, we were able to see the falls both from below and from above. They are spread out over a reasonably wide front and make for a dramatic view. Whether you are close in (and you can get ride to the edge of the falls at the top), looking at them from a distance or staring up from the bottom, they look impressive. I don’t know how long they run for at strength but I imagine they diminish quite soon. We did well to be there at the right time.

Incomplete JetStar

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Regular readers will know I am partial to the Lockheed JetStar. I have previously posted about shooting one at Hayward when it was taking off and another that was at the airport as a source of spare parts. This spare aircraft has moved from the location I previously saw it and is now out on the ramp near the taxiway. While out working with the HueyVets guys, I ended up by the airframe waiting to shoot the Huey.

Up to this point, the airframe looked in good shape. However, recently, one of the engines was removed so I guess it will progressively become more obvious that this jet is not going to be flying again. For the time being, though, you can choose an angle to make the missing items no longer apparent. Then the jet still looks like a great airframe. I hope it lasts a bit longer and that its sacrifices are enough to keep the other jet airworthy.

Last Skiing of the Season

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For the serious skier, nothing should get in the way of your sport – not even a lack of snow. We were in Squaw Valley at the end of the skiing season. The weather was lovely and warm with loads of sun. Shorts and t-shirts were the order of the day for many. However, in the final days of the skiing season, there was still snow on the higher parts of the mountains. We took a trip to High peak on the aerial tram and the last two days of skiing were being exploited by the faithful.

People rode to the top and then walked across the rock to get to the edge of the snow. The snow certainly wasn’t looking too great and the gentler slopes required more effort to get moving. However, you could then get across to other lifts and get higher up on the slopes. There were a lot of people making use of the few runs and lifts still open. I guess they will have to wait until the snows return so the last moments must be worth it. Watching them tromping through the town in their ski gear when others were strolling in warm weather clothes was pretty funny to see.

A340 Season

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It may be that the A340 is in its twilight years but it is still a type that is in operation with a number of airlines. Having watched a few different types disappear from service recently, I am paying more attention to those planes that might not be around for too much longer. I figure the A340 is one of those types. SFO gets a number of them on a normal day from a variety of operators. Virgin Atlantic brings in an A340-600 most days. Meanwhile, the original version shows up with a couple of airlines. Swiss and SAS bring in the A340-300 as part of their services. Philippine Airlines has been known to bring them in too but they are currently using 777-300ERs on this route and the 340s are elsewhere.

I made the effort to get the visitors both arriving and departing. Arrival shots are not great at this time of year as the heat haze starts to become a problem. However, you can still get something reasonable if you get a little lucky. You can go further out on the approach to minimize haze but you lose the context a little.

Moving around to the departure end of the 28s means you can get the planes as they come over your head when taking off. Sadly, all of them went from 28L rather than 28R which means they are slightly backlit when they come by. However, this doesn’t hurt things too much. The shots of them retreating into the distance were not possible on this day though due to the cloud rolling in off the hills which they disappeared into pretty quickly. I guess they will be around for a little longer but it won’t be too long before the A340 is consigned to secondary operators and lower utilization.

When It All Goes Wrong on (or off) the Bull

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The first few of the bull riders at Rowell Ranch Rodeo seemed to do pretty well and make it for the full duration. It turns out that this was an aberration and the remainder of the riders seemed to have a lot of problems. Some still went the distance but a lot of them were thrown off. Getting thrown from a bull is a risky proposition.

Let’s put aside the problem with falling at speed from an animal. Instead, contemplate being on the ground and a little disoriented when you need to get out of the way of a seriously pissed off bull that weighs a lot! This is where the other people come in to play. Their role is to distract the attention of the bull away from the rider while someone helps him get to his feet. It is something that looks perilous and, I imagine, it is.

AWACS Oddity

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A number of different airframes have been used for airborne early warning requirements. The Boeing E-3 Sentry is the most well-known but there have been a number of other types over the years. SAAB developed a radar system that has been mounted on Embraer 145 jets, SAAB 340s and SAAB 2000s. The development of this system was started in the 1980s and a testbed was produced prior to the system appearing on a production airframe. This testbed was a Fairchild Metro turboprop. It made an appearance at the Farnborough airshow where I got some shots of it. It was camouflaged in what was then the standard Swedish camouflage scheme. This was a cool look for their planes and I do miss it.

Vikingsholme

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A trail runs from the highway above Emerald Bay down to the water’s edge of Lake Tahoe. It is not a long hike but it is a steady grade. At the bottom, you come across a house called Vikingsholme. It is a curious mixture of styles. Situated a short distance from the shore, this must have been a great place to live when it was a private residence. Now you can tour the house if you are interested. I was more interested in the outside than the inside. The grass covered roof sections and the ornamentation of the roof lines and the woodwork were very cool.

Iraqi F-16s

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Iraq places an order for F-16s a number of years ago. The first aircraft were not initially delivered to the country but instead went to Tucson to set up a training unit. There are still some aircraft there being used to train new Iraqi pilots. Soon the remaining jets will head to Iraq following those that have already been delivered. I hadn’t seen them before since this all happened since my last visit to Tucson. They operate from Tucson International, alongside the ANG unit and the Dutch training unit.

We had a few movements of the Iraqi jets while I was there and these were, apparently, some of the newer jets to have been delivered. They have adopted a different camouflage pattern to the normal F-16 scheme so it is easier to recognize it is them as they approach. I doubt I will be back before they leave the country so this was one of the few times I will likely see these jets.

: An Iraqi Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16C Fighting Falcon takes off from Tucson International Airport in Arizona.

Riding the Bulls

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My visit to the Rowell Ranch Rodeo was the night of the bull riding. I had never seen this in person before and was curious to see how things went. It was an evening show and the clouds had rolled in so it was pretty dark, even early in the evening. They had floodlights but they were not doing too much for me so I was really testing the high ISO capabilities of the camera for the first time. I was often shooting at 51,200. I have to say that, while the shots are not super clean, they are not too bad at all.

The most dramatic moments seemed to be shortly after they came out of the chute. The bulls leap into the air and the rider hangs on like crazy. It seemed that, if they made it through the initial period, they often went the full time. If they were unsettled initially, they were struggling from then on. More to come of that…